Cell phones should be allowed to copy public records

State Sen. Ken Yager photographed the Tennessee State Capitol on Monday, May 8, 2017 after leaving for the day. Yager said, "We have a beautiful Capitol. Oldest working Capitol in Nation."(Photo: Submitted by Ken Yager)

Just about everyone does it now. Instead of painstakingly copying information, we snap a picture and store the data in our smartphones.

There are even handy apps that will turn those images into perfectly scanned documents that can be printed out later.

But Tennesseans who want to copy public records are encountering more and more government offices that ban such use of cell phones.

This wrong-headed approach came to the fore during a recent hearing of the legislature’s Joint Government Operations Committee.

The panel was reviewing the new public records policies of three state agencies: the Comptroller’s Office, the Tennessee Department of Transportation, and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

All three prohibited citizens from using their phones to copy records.

That didn’t sit well with state Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, the Senate chairman of the committee.

State Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville(Photo: Mike Bell)

“It’s probably the most cost-effective way to be done for the department,” he said, “and time-effective for the citizen.”

He told the representatives of the offices to re-examine the policies and “make sure that we, as a state, stay as transparent as possible, that we allow our citizens to use all the available technology, under supervision, that is available to them out there.

“And one of them being able to photocopy a record with a cell phone.”

A few days later, Comptroller Justin Wilson responded to Bell with a letter that was less than reassuring.

Justin Wilson, Tennessee comptroller.(Photo: State of Tennessee)

The Public Records Act, he stated, gives governmental entities “discretion as to whether individuals may use personal equipment to make copies of public records.” For that reason the Office of the Open Records Counsel -- which reports to the comptroller -- has advised governments across the state that they can address the issue as they like.

That’s a dubious conclusion.

What the Public Records Act actually says is that citizens have the “right” to inspect public records and "to make photographs or photostats of the same.” Custodians of records can adopt “reasonable rules” governing the making of photographs or photostats.

Is a ban on photography a "reasonable rule" governing the right to make photographs?

Clearly, it is not.

The issue is of particular concern now. All government entities in the state were required to establish a public records policy by July 1, and citizens lately have been complaining to the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government Help Line that a growing number of offices are prohibiting photographs of documents – often without any explanation as to why.

One possible explanation is that custodians are not allowed to charge citizens for inspecting records, but they can charge them for making copies. Those charges often run far beyond the cost of running a photocopy machine. Letting citizens use cell phones takes away the leverage agencies have to force citizens to pay for access to records.

Tennesseans should respond to local policies that forbid to use cell phones to photograph public records by insisting on explanations from their local elected officials.

And state agencies should heed Sen. Bell’s admonition that they allow cell-phone copying so that Tennessee can “stay as transparent as possible.”